The employment status triggering the applicability of the Romanian Labor Code is given only by the conclusion of an employment agreement. Based on the employment agreement a person (the employee) undertakes to perform the work for and under the authority of a natural or legal person (the employer), in return for remuneration (a wage).

Any other categories of relations involving, for example, the provision of services, self-employed individuals and even employees in different fields of the public sector trigger the application of contractual law or special laws and statutes. Therefore, such situations are not subject/are only remotely subject to employment/labor law and cannot be qualified as categories of employment status.

As a rule, employment contracts are concluded for an indefinite period. Fixed-term contracts are permitted but may be used only in specific circumstances provided by law (e.g., for seasonal activities, for the temporary increase of activity). Another distinction is made between full-time and part-time employment contracts, based on the length of the daily work schedule (a full-time schedule involving, as a rule, 8 hours of work/day, 40 hours/week, part-time agreements being the ones under this duration of the working week) and subject to specific provisions for each of these two types. Both full-time and part-time contracts may be concluded for an indefinite period or a fixed term.

In addition, another special type of employment contract is the "temporary employment contract", which is concluded between the temporary workforce agency and the employee assigned to a user company.

Due to the special rules that apply to contracts for employees who work under the teleworking/work-at-home regime, these could also be considered as particular types of employment, triggering additional requirements in what concerns the content of such contracts.

In order to be valid, an employment contract must contain certain terms specified by the Labor Code, such as, for example, the identification data of the parties; the workplace; the position held by the employee and the job description; the performance-evaluation criteria applicable to the employee; the job-specific health and safety risks; the start date of employment; the notice period; the basic salary, as well as other components of salary and the frequency of payment;  the normal duration of working time; the probation period.

The employment contract must be concluded in writing, in the Romanian language, at least one day before the employee starts the work. In practice, bilingual employment contracts are commonly used and valid if one of the languages used is Romanian.

Employment contracts may not contain provisions contrary to the law or any applicable collective agreement or provide for employee rights below the minimum level laid down by law or an applicable collective agreement. Employees cannot waive their legal rights and any agreement purporting to waive or reduce such rights is void.

Part-time employees must receive equal treatment with comparable full-time employees. A comparable full-time employee is one employed in the same organization, performing the same or similar work as a part-time employee, with due regard to factors such as seniority, qualifications and occupational skills. Part-timers are entitled, pro-rata to their working hours, to the wages and other rights provided to employees with a normal full-time work schedule.

On the other hand, there are particular features of a part-time employment regime: for example, part-time employees must not perform over time (except in cases of force majeure, or to prevent accidents or deal with their consequences).

No, an employment contract is concluded between an employer and an employee. Particular manners of assignment, different from the mechanism of civil law assignment of contracts, are established through the rules that govern the relations between temporary workforce agents, employees and user companies, as well as by the special legal framework regarding the transfer of undertakings.

Authorized temporary workforce agencies may supply workers to user companies to carry out "precise" and "temporary" tasks. The agency worker signs a special form of employment contract with the agency (a "temporary employment contract"), generally for each assignment. During an assignment, though employed by the agency, the agency worker works under the supervision and direction of the user company.

A transfer of undertaking involves the transfer of a business or part thereof, as a result of a legal transfer or a merger, carried out with the aim of continuing the transferred entity's activity. The automatic transfer of employment relationships from the transferor to the transferee does not apply in cases where the transferor is a company that is bankrupt or subject to judicial reorganization (a form of restructuring or liquidation procedure ordered by a court).

From an employment law perspective, such a situation may occur in the event of a transfer of undertaking, as provided by the special applicable law (transposing the Acquired Rights Directive). Thus, in case of a transfer of undertaking all employees affected by the transferred business are automatically transferred from the transferor to the transferee as of the date of the transfer, together with all rights and obligations under the employment agreements (individual employment agreement and applicable collective labor agreement, if the case).

Employees must not be dismissed, individually or collectively, by the transferee or transferor, solely by reason of a relevant transfer. The situation of an employee who refuses the transfer of his or her employment contract/relationship to the transferee is unclear and currently a matter of legal debate.

No, there are no such express rules within the Romanian labor legislation.

The employer is entitled to amend unilaterally some terms and conditions of the employment contract in certain specific cases, subject to observing statutory rules.

Notably, an employer may unilaterally change the employee's place of work and type of work on a temporary basis in the event of force majeure, as a disciplinary measure (i.e. an employee may be sanctioned for a disciplinary deed with demotion, with the corresponding salary for the demoted position, for a period of maximum 60 days) or to protect the employee's health and safety.

Further, the employer is entitled to change the employee's place of work unilaterally either by "delegating" the employee temporarily to work somewhere other than his or her normal workplace (for example, by sending him or her on a business trip) or by seconding the employee to work temporarily for another organization.

Other examples of such changes may refer to the unilateral amendment of the working schedule (e.g., from 5 to 4 days or temporary reduction of working hours up to a maximum of 80%) and corresponding salary rights mainly due to economic reasons, in very strict situations prescribed by statute and after obtaining the employee representation bodies’ point of view on the matter. Such measures have been heavily used and further regulated in the COVID-19 pandemic context.

If the unilateral change occurred by means of a disciplinary decision of the employer, the employee may challenge such a decision and the sanction provided therein in front of a court of law. For other cases, if the employee suffered from a material or moral prejudice, which is the employer’s fault and occurred during the fulfillment of work/work-related duties, the employee may file a complaint in court, following the principles of civil/contractual liability.

The Romanian employment legislation in force regulates in a very restrictive manner the termination of employment relationships and does not recognize the concept of "employment-at-will". The employer may dismiss an employee only in the cases expressly listed by the Labor Code, for those reasons mentioned therein and with the observance of the required procedure (e.g., disciplinary dismissal (for gross or repeated misconducts at work), dismissal for redundancy, dismissal in case of employee’s physical unfitness and/or mental incapacity, dismissal for professional inadequacy (poor performance)). With regard to the termination of the employment contract, the law provides for a series of permanent and temporary dismissal prohibitions that should be taken into account (such as dismissal on the basis of discriminatory grounds, dismissal during maternity leave, dismissal during annual leave, etc.).

Yes. An employee can challenge dismissal in court on the basis that the dismissal was not on one of the grounds stipulated by law, did not follow the statutory procedure, or breached the statutory protections against dismissal (for example, in the case of discriminatory dismissal or dismissal during sickness or maternity leave).

Employees are expressly protected by the provisions of the Labor Code from unlawful dismissals and courts interpret the relevant statutory rules strictly. If a court finds in favor of the employee, it will rule the dismissal null and void and order the employer to:

• pay the employee compensation equal to the wages and other entitlements to which he or she would have been entitled from the date of dismissal up to the date of the court ruling; and
• where the employee so expressly requests, to reinstate the employee in his or her former position (irrespective of whether or not the employee has found a new job in the meantime).

If an employer fails to comply with a court ruling ordering the payment of compensation and/or reinstatement, this may constitute a criminal offense.

Although case law is not consistent on this point, where dismissal is ruled null and void the court may also award the employee compensation for moral damages suffered, depending on the circumstances of the case.

Law no. 361 of 16 December 2022 on the protection of whistleblowers in the public interest transposes into Romanian national legislation the EU Directive 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2019 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law.

Legislation on whistleblowing offers explicit protection to workers or independent contractors who report certain breaches of the law (including anonymously), obligating employers to establish internal reporting channels and safeguard whistleblowers from retaliation. This includes, among others, maintaining confidentiality, providing feedback, addressing reported breaches, and keeping records of reports received. Employers are prohibited from taking retaliatory measures such as suspension, dismissal, or harassment against whistleblowers.

To qualify for protection, employees must report breaches (whether internally or externally) based on information received in a professional context, with reasonable belief in the truth of the report, and, to further qualify for reparation measures, experience reprisals as a result. The protection extends to facilitators assisting whistleblowers, associated third parties, and whistleblowers reporting to EU bodies.

In any case, false reporting can lead to disciplinary sanctions and hefty fines. 

The employees’ rights regarding data privacy processing and protection are governed by the EU General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR"), which is directly applicable in Romania.

Direct and indirect discrimination, discrimination through association, harassment (including of a moral nature) and victimization in employment relations are expressly prohibited by statute on the grounds of race, nationality, ethnic origin, color, language, social category (a group of people with common characteristics, such as class), religion, beliefs, political views, gender - including pregnancy, childbirth and maternity status, sexual orientation, family and marital status, age, genetic factors, disability, chronic non-contagious disease, HIV-positive status, belonging to a disadvantaged social group, trade union membership and exercising rights to maternity leave, parental leave or paternity leave.

The above list is not exhaustive, and the labor legal framework generally prohibits discrimination on the basis of any criterion that has the purpose or effect of restricting or preventing the equal recognition, enjoyment or exercise of fundamental human rights, or other political, economic, social or cultural rights recognized by legal provisions. In the employment field, relevant legal rights covered by the anti-discrimination legislation include the right to work, choose one's occupation freely, be granted fair and satisfactory working conditions and wages, be protected against unemployment, receive equal pay for equal work, have access to education and vocational training, etc.

Yes, the rights to annual leave (minimum 20 working days), medical leave, and paternal and parental leave are provided by the general and special employment legislation.

For certain categories of illnesses, the period for which the medical leave may be granted has increased to 1 year and a half (for cancer and HIV) and, respectively, to the entire treatment period, regardless of its duration (for tuberculosis).

In addition, COVID-19 has been included on the list of infectious-contagious diseases in case of which employees receive a higher medical leave allowance. The individuals who tested positive with COVID-19 are entitled to medical leave and the corresponding allowance, under the applicable legal conditions, while suspect individuals who are placed in quarantine are entitled to a specific quarantine leave and the corresponding allowance, in case they cannot continue activity from home, for a duration specified in the medical certificate.

A so-called restrictive covenant or, more accurately, a special type of clause that may be included within the employment contract negotiated and signed by the parties is the non-compete clause.

A non-compete clause may be included in an employment contract when it is signed, or during its performance, whereby the employee undertakes, after the termination of the contract, to refrain from performing, on his or her own account or for a third party, any activity competing with the activities formerly performed for the employer, for a certain period. In return, the employer pays the former employee a monthly "non-competition incentive" for the whole of this period.

The employment contract must specify the competing activities that the employee is prohibited from performing, any relevant third parties in favor of which such cannot be performed, the amount of the non-competition incentive, the duration of the non-competition period, and the geographical scope of the restrictions on the employee. The monthly non-competition incentive (that will be paid after the termination of the employment contract, during the non-competition period) must be at least 50% of the average monthly wage earned by the employee in the six months before the termination of the employment contract.

The maximum non-competition period is generally two years. A non-competition clause must not have the effect of absolutely prohibiting the employee from working in his or her occupational field.

If an employee willfully breaches a non-competition clause, he/she may be liable to refund the benefit received and to pay damages to the employer.

No, there is no such termination case.

Yes. In order to receive any state retirement pension, individuals must have reached the standard retirement age and have a minimum social security contribution record, which is currently 15 years for both women and men. To receive a full state retirement pension, an individual must have reached the standard retirement age and have a complete contribution record, which is currently 35 years for men and 31 years for women. The complete contribution record for women is increasing in stages to 35 years by 1 January 2030.

In principle, apart from the statutory ones (for example, annual leave or the right to professional training), there are no mandatory benefits to be granted to employees. Employers may freely choose to grant employees benefits such as meal tickets, medical coverage, extra days off, etc.

An employee's employment contract is terminated automatically on the date that he or she reaches the standard retirement age and has the minimum contribution record required for a state retirement pension.

Under the "first-pillar" state pension system, the standard retirement age is currently 65 years for men and 61 years and 7 months for women. However, the female employee is able to opt-in writing, within 30 calendar days prior to the fulfillment of the standard age conditions and minimum contributory period for retirement, for carrying on the execution of the individual employment agreement until the age of 65 years, the same as men. The retirement age for men rose to 65 on 1 January 2015, while the retirement age for women is increasing in stages to 63 by 1 January 2030.

Based on a request made 30 days before the date of the cumulative fulfillment of the standard age conditions and minimum contributory period for retirement, with the employer’s approval, the employee may be kept in the same position for a maximum of 3 years over the standard retirement age, with the possibility of annually extending the individual employment agreement. 

According to the general legal framework, in such a situation, the person retired for reaching the age limit provided by law may continue to cumulate the pension with income from dependent or independent activities, subject to the provisions of the fiscal legislation.

In case of other situations of retirement (persons receiving invalidity pensions for certain degrees of invalidity; persons subject to early retirement; persons receiving survivor’s pension etc.), special conditions and exemptions apply with regard to the possibility of receiving, cumulatively, the pension and an income from dependent activities.

The current legal provisions and official instructions of the competent authorities do not include any duties or entitlements for employers in the vaccination process.

Compelling/obliging the employees to get vaccinated or conditioning their right to work upon being vaccinated would be considered excessive. In this sense, the employee can successfully refuse any attempt from the employer to compel him/her to get the vaccine or impose any other measures or differentiated treatment based on this characteristic.

Thus, in the above-mentioned context, employment termination may be challenged for an unlawful character in court, where employees may obtain annulment thereof, reinstatement and even damages subject to proving that they suffered prejudice in this context. Moreover, any type of differentiated treatment based on the vaccinated / not vaccinated status may be challenged in front of the competent authorities or in court on discrimination grounds by employees seeking reparation of prejudice thus incurred.

In the absence of a piece of legislation requiring the employers to shut down, it is always important to verify the content of the work-from-home/teleworking arrangements concluded with the employees. As such working arrangements usually require addenda to the employment contract to be concluded, the agreement of the employee in question may be needed to perform the necessary amendments to the employment contract, allowing the return to office work. In such a case, if the work-from-home/teleworking addendum does not provide a specific term for application or other clauses which may be leveraged by the employer, unilaterally requiring to return to work may prove impossible and employees refusing to return to work may not be sanctioned for such behaviors.

If work-from-home/teleworking addenda allows the lawful return to work from the office (e.g., the term of the application expired and a reason for recommencing work from the office is communicated, or if a hybrid work arrangement is agreed upon), in principle, the employee could not refuse to return to work and should continue to observe their job descriptions and fulfill their job duties so as to ensure business continuity. 

If employees refuse to return to work in an unjustified/unlawful manner, the employer may suspend the employment due to ungrounded absences from work. In this case, the employer would not have to pay the salary rights as of the date of the suspension decision. Drastic measures, such as disciplinary employment termination, should be adopted with caution, as the reasons and general context for such refusal may lead to such drastic measures being rendered null and void by a court of law.